


Christmas Wrapping

by Biana_Delacroix



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: AU/AH, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-09 23:30:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5560000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Biana_Delacroix/pseuds/Biana_Delacroix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas alone is just what she needs after the year she's had. At least, that's what she tells herself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Wrapping

**Author's Note:**

  * For [labime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/labime/gifts).



> For queenofloveandbeauty, I hope you had an amazing holiday season and have a great 2016!

_January_

The snow was still falling eight hours into Caroline’s ski-weekend, the perfect picture of Winter Wonderland bliss, covering the mountain in a soft blanket that promised perfect runs and a great time. She had to admire her luck, even her planning skills couldn’t have bribed Mother Nature for a more perfect setting.

Unfortunately, her own good fortune didn’t extend to her.

_“Care, are you sure you’re going to be okay by yourself?”_

_“I have a broken ankle Elena, I’m not dying. Go, enjoy the slopes!”_

_“What are you going to do all day?”_

_“Bon, I have the fire, hot chocolate, and a book, I’ll be fine.”_

_“Babe, you’re the best. We’ll see you soon, take care of yourself.”_

In retrospect, she wondered if she should’ve asked Tyler to stay back, but a small part of her wanted him to offer himself. She couldn’t really pretend to be surprised, Tyler’s love of snowboarding was the whole reason she’d organized the trip up here, but it still stung that while all of her friends got to enjoy themselves (albeit at her insistence) she was stuck in the lodge with a broken ankle, courtesy of some black ice just outside the front door.

At least the fire was warm. And her book was boring, but the nice people working at the lodge kept bringing her hot chocolate and she got to people-watch to her heart’s content. So, her ski-bunny dreams were dashed, but she was determined to make the best of the night.

It was going so well until the shoe hit her head.

“Hey, watch it jackass!”

The jackass in question was now standing over her, struggling to keep his laughter to himself. He was undeniably hot, with dark blonde curls and dimples to die for, and it just ratcheted up Caroline’s irritation that she was stuck inside with a broken ankle and couldn’t even appreciate a hot guy when she saw one.

(She loved Tyler, she loved Tyler, she loved Tyler…)

“Apologies love, didn’t mean to get you caught in the crossfire.”

Caroline huffed, holding up the cherry red high heel that had bounced off her head. “These really aren’t your colour.”

He took the offending shoe with a laugh (and he sounded ridiculously sexy, _ugh_ ), but instead of leaving her alone, he took the spot next to her, throwing an arm over the back of the couch.

“Klaus Mikaelson,” he said by way of introduction. When Caroline remained stubbornly silent, his smirk just widened and he nodded towards her foot, which was in a cast and propped up on the coffee table. “How did that happen?”

“Slipped on some black ice,” she muttered, immediately wishing she had come up with a better story. “Why are you going around throwing shoes at people?”

“Got into a spat with my brother,” he replied, pointing out tall guy chatting up a redhead across the room. “Believe me, if you knew him, you’d want to throw things at him too.”

Caroline laughed in spite of herself, “Maybe, but I doubt your girlfriend is going to appreciate you using Jimmy Choos as weapons.”

“My _sister_ will be more than understanding. In fact she’ll probably show up with the other shoe.” He took great care to put extra emphasis on ‘sister’ and Caroline didn’t miss it.

“Yeah, I’m hoping my _boyfriend_ gets back soon,” she said, noting that his face fell for just a second, but as much as she liked chatting up hot accented strangers, she knew she couldn’t lead the guy on. This was probably when he would call it a loss and walk away, but Klaus just stayed right where he was, undeterred.

“Now don’t tell me he’s out on the runs while you’re stuck here all by yourself,” Klaus said, sounding highly concerned.

“There’s no need for both of us to be stuck inside,” Caroline replied primly, not liking his insinuation. “And it’s really none of your buisness.”

“Allow me to acquit myself,” he said immediately, though he didn’t sound the slightest bit sorry. He looked back at her cast, lighting up as an idea came to him, and he barely had time to tell her to stay still before he was up and gone.

Caroline had no choice but to keep her spot, wondering where the hell he could’ve gone, but after a minute her question was answered when Klaus came back, grinning widely and holding a pack of markers.

“Managed to nip these from reception,” explained Klaus, “and I happen to be quite the artist. If you don’t mind, of course?”

Caroline was sure that letting a hot British stranger doodle on her cast was at least some minor form of flirting but they were surrounded by people and she had been mind-numbingly bored, so she smiled and nodded, letting Klaus do his work.

“I’m Caroline, by the way,” she finally admitted, and Klaus looked up from his concentration to smile up at her.

“Caroline,” he said, rolling the name of his tongue and she immediately loved the sound of it from him. “It suits you.”

God, this guy had all the lines. And she knew she had a boyfriend, but for the next little while, she let herself enjoy small talk while watching Klaus brighten up her plain white cast with intricate doodles.

When the time came that he capped his last marker and sat back up with at satisfied smile, Caroline could only marvel at the masterpiece that he’d somehow turned her injury into. “You’re good.”

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

“You’re _really_ good.”

Klaus smirked, leaned closer, and Caroline inhaled sharply thrown off kilter by his proximity. He was talented and alluring but she was not the girl to cheat on her boyfriend, so it came as a relief when she heard the distinctive sound of her friends’ laughter as they came through the doors.

“My friends are here,” she said, surprised at how apologetic she sounded, she knew she had no reason to be.

“ _Nik!_ Did you steal my bloody shoes?!” The shrill question made him flinch and Caroline assumed his sister had finally caught wind of the missing Jimmy Choo situation. Klaus stood abruptly, casting one longing look at her. But between boyfriends and sisters, Caroline figured this was one of those ‘never meant to be’ situations, so she gave an encouraging smile and with a parting wink, Klaus was outrunning one very angry blonde, just as Tyler sat down next to her, Elena, Bonnie and Stefan crowding around.

“Care, did you do this?” Bonnie asked, impressed, as she looked over Caroline’s cast.

“Oh, I just…met some people while I was sitting here,” said Caroline vaguely, making a snap decision to keep Klaus to herself. They’d done absolutely nothing wrong, but this wasn’t something she wanted them to make a big deal over.

Luckily everyone seemed to buy it, and they cheerfully regaled her with their days while Caroline nodded and pretended to listen. Mostly though, she snuck glances at Klaus’ artwork out of the corner of her eye, wondering where he’d went.

But in the end, they weren’t meant to be.

She wished that thought didn’t make her so sad.

  
**xxx**

_March_

_“Dammit!”_ Caroline let some colourful curses out, earning some odd looks but she didn’t have the energy to care, focusing on hobbling over to the nearest park bench and inspecting the broken heel of her brand new shoes. This was the cherry on top of the worst day in history, and she half expected rain to start pouring down any second.

“Caroline?”

The voice was vaguely familiar, and Caroline whipped her head up to meet sandy curls and adorable dimples. “Klaus? What are you doing here?”

He took a seat next to her, smiling widely. “I happen to live in this city, love. What are the chances we’d meet again?”

Caroline was too busy opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish, staring at Klaus like she couldn’t believe he was real. “I, uh, I moved here. A few weeks ago, actually.”

_And the boyfriend I moved for turned out to be a complete jackass_ , is what she doesn’t add, but there’s no disguising the bitterness in her words. Klaus raised an eyebrow but didn’t probe deeper, and she was glad. If anyone had asked her to go into the details of finding out Tyler was cheating on her, she’d probably talk herself into taking the broken heel in her hand and stabbing her now-ex with it in the eye.

They fell into an awkward silence, until Klaus noticed the state of her shoes. “Were you walking somewhere?”

“Home, actually. Thought cutting through the park would be faster, but…” she trailed, off waving the broken heel up half-heartedly. If she had more energy, she’d be ten times more interested in flirting with this hot British guy who she’d definitely not forgotten about, but Tyler’s betrayal was fresh, and mostly she just wanted to open up a bottle of wine and wallow with Adele in the background.

She’d beat herself up for losing this opportunity later.

“Let me give you a lift home,” Klaus offered smoothly, standing up and extending a hand. He was hot and generous, clearly, but getting into cars with strange men was something her sheriff mother had drilled into her to never do. Still…

“You could be a serial killer,” Caroline joked, and Klaus just smirked, eyes promising a dare.

“Take a chance, sweetheart. I promise to be a gentleman.”

Caroline hesitated a second more, and that was long enough for the first drops of rain to hit her head. Cursing (thanking?) Mother Nature in her head, she stood up and took Klaus’ hand, letting him lead her over to his car.

When she stood outside her apartment building five minutes later, it was with the memory of Klaus laugh and a number burning a hole in her pocket. There was no chance she’d be using it anytime soon, she knew how stupid and unfair it would be to use him as a rebound after what Tyler had done. That would take some time to get over.

Maybe their timing was always going to suck. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.

Still, at least she got to see him one more time.

**xxx**

_July_

“Caroline, you’re supposed to be enjoying yourself.” Bonnie, poked her friend in the arm, trying to coax a smile forward, but the blonde just huffed and pushed her sunglasses up onto her face, wincing as she accidentally irritated the sunburn on her nose.

Though, it was hard to move at all without irritating some burn on herself.

“Of course I’m enjoying myself Bon, who says I’m not?” Bonnie just raised an eyebrow. It would have probably helped if Caroline hadn’t gritted her teeth through the last sentence. She sighed, giving up on even pretending, “This was supposed to be a fun week Bonnie, I looked like a tomato.”

“It’s not… that bad.”

“Bonnie Bennet, I look like I was fried alive and you know it.”

Her best friend tried to deny it, but it was pointless, and they both knew it. “Maybe we just go back to the hotel and empty the minifridge?”

“Now you’re talking!”

They picked up their totes and were halfway out the beachside restaurant when they were jostled by the trio coming inside, one of them a tall, striking Blonde, who flipped her hair and managed a perfect condecending sneer as she looked over Caroline.

“Watch where you’re going,” she snapped, and Caroline was this close to firing back when the man behind the girl stopped, slack-jawed, looking Caroline over.

_“Caroline?”_

_“Klaus?”_

“Caroline, who is this?”

“Nik, swore you woudn’t pick up any bimbos on vacation!”

“I’m Kol, if anyone’s interested.”

“Shut up, Kol!” The blonde nearly bit the other man’s head off, but he was too busy ogling Bonnie to care much. Klaus was still locked in a staring match with Caroline, who was trying to figure out just what the odds were that she’d meet this guy in Hawaii, on what was her first break from work in months.

“You never called,” he blurted out, and immediately their little audience became very interested in their conversation.

“Yeah, it was a…bad time for that,” she said with a wince, mindful of Bonnie’s sympathetic look of support, and the looks of irritation on the blonde girl (his sister, if she remembered correctly,) and the guy she assumed was his brother.

“Well, this is fascinating,” Kol said, amusedly, “We’ve barely been on vacation for five hours and Nik’s already got a girl. What about you, darling?” He stepped closer to Bonnie who just scoffed, turning to Caroline with a silent question.

“Go back to the hotel,” Caroline said, smiling to show she’d be fine.

With one last scathing look at Kol, Bonnie turned on her heel and Kol was just about to follow when his sister grabbed him back by his collar. “Don’t be a bitch, Bekah!”

“Don’t be a dolt, we have to meet Elijah or we’ll never hear the end of it!”

“Could you both be somewhere else?” Klaus asked, sounding highly irritated.

Rebekah looked highly indignant, but one glare from her brother and she swallowed her anger, turning back towards the restaurant, pulling Kol with her.

“Apologies, love,” Klaus said, taking a step closer, “at least you can see why I was throwing a shoe at him back at the ski lodge.”

“Yeah, I kinda got that,” Caroline said with a smile, but it was difficult to be her fun flirty self when she was a walking talking sunburn.

“So…you never called.” He sounded a little distant, and Caroline couldn’t blame him, not really.

“It was a bad time to go looking for something new. That day, I found out my boyfriend was cheating on me.” She couldn’t have predicted the sharp intake of breath, he looked almost angry on her behalf.

“He sounds like an idiot, love. Certainly not worth your time.”

It was a boost to the ego, Caroline couldn’t deny that and she wished she had the energy to stay and keep this up, but she desperately needed some more burn cream and her comfiest pajamas.

Sensing she was close to making an exit, Klaus took his chance, “I don’t suppose you’d like to spend some time together, while we’re here?” he asked hopefully. “I have a boat, we could spend the day sailing?”

The offer was so tempting, Caroline was practically itching to say yes, but she couldn’t ignore the creep of pain all over. “Sorry, I’m probably going to be dealing with this,” she waved a hand over the bright red exposed skin. “Plus…I’m going to be leaving tomorrow morning.”

Klaus’s face fell, and Caroline knew she looked just as disappointed. “Perhaps we could-”

Before he could finish his offer, the restaurant door opened, and his sister was there, looking highly annoyed. “Nik, Elijah’s getting impatient, hurry up!”

He cursed and Caroline knew that was her cue to leave. “Goodbye Klaus,” she said, a little sadly.

“Goodnight Caroline,” he said fondly, and before she had a chance to turn away, he stepped towards her and pressed a kiss to her cheek, winking as he pulled away.

As she reached her hotel, Caroline brushed her fingers over the spot he’d kissed, not able to get the wide smile off her face. She wondered if she still had Klaus’ number, but there was a part of her that was starting to think this was just going to be a series of random meetings and nothing more, and maybe it would be better to let Klaus be a mysterious, sexy stranger than have the illusion broken.

(She doesn’t dwell too long on what would happen if the illusion held up because the chances of something that amazing was slim to none.)

Maybe this was just going to be a fun memory, never really meant to be.

Still, at least she’d gotten a kiss out of him.

**xxx**

_December_

There was nothing wrong with spending the holidays alone.

Caroline was an independent woman, she had a mom who loved her, friends who were beyond amazing, and there were no shortage of possible holiday plans. But this year had been hectic, between a five year relationship going down in flames and starting a new job in a new city, she wanted some time to herself, was it so much to ask?

So, with promises that she’d be at plenty of New Year’s parties, she prepared to spend her first Christmas by herself. Her apartment was beautifully decorated, even if she was going to be the only one to see it, and she had all the dressings for a Christmas feast for at least two people. Sure, she’d eat alone, but the leftovers would keep her from having to cook for at least a few days. The wine was uncorked, her favourite Netflix shows were queued up, and she was just going to _relax_.

If only she hadn’t forgotten the cranberries.

When Caroline Forbes did something, she did it right, and that included Christmas dinner for one. So, it was back out into the snowy Christmas Eve evening, trying to maneuver her car through the streets to find a grocery store that was still open. When she did, she went into mission mode, picking up the last battered can of cranberry sauce left on the almost bare shelf and making a beeline for checkout, silently patting herself on the back for being so efficient.

She was so close to her goal that it took her a moment to notice him standing there behind her.

“Hello love,” Klaus whispered in her ear, causing her to jump and spin on her heel, completely stunned to see him standing in front of her for the fourth time that year.

“No fucking way,” she muttered to herself, blushing immediately when he laughed at her.

“Do you think the universe is trying to tell us something?” he asked, eyes lit up and lips in a smirk that was seriously testing Caroline’s restraint.

“Depends,” she said, “What’re you here for?”

He held up his can of cranberries the same time she did, and they couldn’t help themselves anymore, doubling over laughing at what could only be the weirdest luck any couple had ever had.

“I guess you’re spending Christmas with your family?” she asked, remembering the intimidating blonde and smug brother.

“Actually I managed to stave them off until the New Year, I wanted some time alone.”

“Me too,” Caroline admitted shyly. “But…I have enough for two. You know, if you don’t mind the company." She held her breath, watching him absorb her proposal, probably guessing why he was hesitant. She’d had a hundred chances to give him a call, but it had never felt right not before right now, and she only hoped she hadn’t waited too long.

Finally, he came to a decision. “I have one condition, sweetheart.”

“Yes?”

“You let me bring dessert.”

It was an easy condition to meet, and later that night, when Klaus leans over and presses his lips firmly against hers, he tastes like plum pudding and it’s the best dessert and the best Christmas she’s ever had.

**xxx**

_January_

“Sweetheart, how do you feel about taking ski trip with me and my family?”

“Depends, how much time do I have to spend on a ski lift with Rebekah and Kol?”

“I was thinking something more along the lines of curling up in front of the fire-you know, where we first met?”

“Did you think back then we’d ever end up together?”

“Of course sweetheart. It was always meant to be.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year everyone!


End file.
